Picts
'' Picts'' is the English form of Latin Picti, referring to the British people who dwelt in the north of Britain above the Firth of Forth and the Clyde River and did not submit to Roman power. The name means “Painted Ones” and is said to derive from their custom of painting their bodies. In Welsh, the Pictish country is called Prydyn, as opposed to Prydain which is the Welsh name for the rest of the island of Brtiain. In Q-Celtic (that is in Irish) the Pictish people or related people are called Cruthini. What the Picts called themselves is unknown. Picts during the “Arthurian” Period Following the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain, Pictish raiding increased, as described by Gildas in his De Excido Britanniae who mentions raids by Scots (Irish) and Picts. Gildas claims that the Romans twice sent aid, but refused to do so a third time. Accordingly the British “proud tyrant” sought help from the pagan Saxons to fight the pagan Irish and Picts. Later tradition identifies the “proud tyrant” as the legendary Vortigern. It appears that the Saxons were successful in fighting the Picts. At least they never appear as a menace to the Britons again, nor to the English. Perhaps the Picts were from that time forth more concerned with the invading Irish. The Pictish King List The Pictish King List is the only source which provides details of the Picts during the Arthurian period. The pertinent section of the King List reads: It is generally believed that Mailcon, father of Bruide, is the same as Maelgwn Gwynedd. Picts in Pseudo-Historical Works A tradition speaks of the Pict as coming to Britain. According to the Historia Brittonum (as translated by Giles): 11. Æneas reigned over the Latins three years; Ascanius thirty-three years; after whom Silvius reigned twelve yeaars, and Posthumus thirty-nine years: the latter, from whom the kings of Alba are called Silvan, was brother to Brutus, who governed Britain at the time Eli the high-priest judged Israel, and when the Ark of the covenant was taken by a foreign people. But Posthumus his brother reigned among the Latins. 12. After an interval of not less than eight hundred years, came the Picts, and occupied the Orkney Islands: whence they laid waste many regions, and seized those on the left hand side of Britain, where they still remain, keeping possession of a third part of Britain to this day. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae has Brutus defeat King Goffar the Pict in Aquitaine. But Goffar seeks help from the rest of the Gauls, who attack Brutus at Tours. After defeating the Gauls, Brutus departs for Britain. Historically in pre-Roman Gaul a people known as the Pictones or Pictavi dwelt in Aquitaine, centered on the city of Lemonum on the river Ligier, later to become Poitiers on the river Loire. Their power extended north to the region of the Turones who gave their name to Tours. Some have tried to connect these Pictavi with the British Picts. Geoffrey’s account suggests such a connection but barely avoids making it explicitly. Geoffrey sets the Pictish invasion of Britain during the reign of King Marius son of Arviragus, which follows the Roman conquest. The name of the King of the Picts is Sodric. Marius kills Sodric in battle and a stone is set up in Westmorland as a monument to this victory. Marius allows the defeated people to dwell in Caithness, which at that time is deserted. The Picts, who have no women with them, seek wives from the British. When they are refused, they successfully get them from the Irish. The Scots are descended from the Picts and the Irish. Geoffrey mentions Roman clashes with the Picts. Then, during the reign of Magnus Maximus, Geoffrey brings in an army lead by Wanius King of the Huns and Melga King of the Picts who have been sent to Germany by the eastern Emperior Gracian to attack those who support Maximus. Their troops slaughter the shipwrecked British women who are being sent to become wives of the men of Little Britain. Then learning that Britain is now undefended, for most of its troops are in Gaul with Maximus or Conan Meriadoc, Wanius and Melga make a treaty with the neighboring islands, land in Albany in northern Britain, and begin to attack the southern lands. At this point Geoffrey stops speaking of Wanius and Melga, though he continues to tell of the ravages of the Picts in passages based on Gildas’ account. Wace’s Roman de Brut, and Lawman’s Brut even more, personalize these attacks by continuing to use Wanius and Melga as their leaders. Indeed Lawman keep Wanius and Melga alive to be slain by King Constantine in his first battle. Then women are called out to seek for the defeated soldiers, whom they tear apart. But it is a Pict, named Cadal by Lawman, who treacherously slays King Constantine. And Vortigern tricks a band of Picts into killing Constatine’s son Constans. This, in part, explains why the Picts are so hostile to Vortigern so that he must get aid from Hengist and Horsa to oppose them. From that point on, the Picts cease to be mentioned. Picts Unmentioned in Arthurian Romances The Picts are not mentioned in Arthurian romances. In the Story of Merlin King Constantine, here named Constant, is not said to be killed by a Pict. His son is likewise not killed by Picts, but by a conspiracy of Britons who have been tricked by Vortigern. It is a rebellion by Britons related to these men which leads Vortigern to call in Hengist the Saxon. Picts in Hector Boece’s Scotorum Historia Hector Boece in his Scotorum Historia first makes King Loth into a King of the Picts, not a King of Lothian. Loth marries Anna, who in Boece’s account is sister to Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon. When Ambrosius dies childless and Uther has only an illegitimate son, Loth’s eldest son Mordred becomes the rightful heir to Britain. Accordingly King Loth battles both with Uther and with Arthur, until an agreement is made that Arthur may continue to rule, but that Mordred will be Arthur’s heir. Mordred is married to a high British nobleman named Gualone, and Mordred’s sons are brought up in Arthur’s kingdom with British not Pictish as their first tongue. The intent is to downplay Mordred’s Pictish lineage. However, after King Loth’s death, the Britons repudiate the agreement and chose Constantine of Cornwall as heir instead. Hence Mordred rebels against Arthur. Some Name Variations LATIN: Picti, Pictus (singular); FRENCH: Pi, Pis; ENGLISH: Peutes, Peute (singular); WELSH: Ffichtiaid, Ffichdiaid. Category:Peoples